“I am very funny, never let anyone get bored. I am
in search for a huge platform and I wish to become an actor someday.”
Super elated to be back to My Perch where we began
our journey at Sahas 3 years ago. Back then we had an idea - a curriculum that
was waiting to see the ground and create a space where adolescents can find themselves,
ask questions and share their thoughts on their own issues without the fear of
being shut down or judged- together we created our first circle so yes it feels
great to revisit our roots.
‘Whenever I am bored, I just start hitting people around
me’
‘Nobody knows but I bunked my entire UKG. I spend
the time in the nearby park’
‘Once I pranked and made my teacher trip over’
‘I enjoy dancing but my mother doesn’t want me too.
But I still practice dancing’
‘I went out with my friends without telling anyone’
‘Didi, there is a teacher in our school who asks about
her appearance every day to the students. One day she asked me, I didn’t wish
to entertain so I said nothing to her but went to other teacher and appreciated
her looks.’
‘I love learning new things so one day I took
someone’s bike to ride but then I ramped it over accidently.’
These were some really crazy stuff that they had
engaged in but this activity was like an ice breaking session for us.
In the next activity, the participants were asked to
create their identity maps – writing things that they associate with
themselves. It was a surreal experience hearing them; almost everyone had
written that they love coming to My Perch, enjoy singing, dancing, drawing and
roaming around. The beautiful aspect was their aspirations – two of them wanted
to be IAS officer, one of the wanted to be an astronaut and someone wanted to
be an actor.
In the second part of the activity, the ones who
shared something in their identity maps were supposed to sit in pairs and the
ones who had nothing same were asked to sit separately. On asking how it felt
when you shared a common point –
‘I was very happy, because we have something in
common, something we both enjoy. We both wrote that if we don’t come to
library- we feel lost. The thing if I don’t come here then I would loiter
around, waste time but here I engage in learning something new like playing
guitar and making friends’
On asking people who had nothing in common; two different
answers were shared-
‘I felt really good because I am unique and
different from others’
‘I felt miserable, I hardly speak to people. If
there was someone who shared some part with my identity map I would be happy
because I won’t feel different and had someone with whom I could talk’
Moving over to the activity where we talk about how
our identities change over course of our life – seeing one of the photos, one
of the participants said that it is love marriage. Being caught off guard because
of the response, I asked why. The participant said, “The girl is smiling that’s
why it’s love marriage otherwise either she would be serious or said”
Another important thing that came out in this
session was how the participants interpreted the story of girl who holds on to
the important values from her adolescence to youth. Two of the participants
drew out the patterns of her behavior in the exact manner which depicts the
very rare reflective ability – It was very intelligent observation which left
us feel stumped once again.
While we were dwelling on ambitions and aspirations,
one of the participants enquired, “I wish to become astronaut but somehow my
height falls short. I enjoy singing too but my parents want me to become
lawyer. In such situation what should I do?”
In the last activity of ‘seeing good in one self’ we
explored why it is important for us to be praised by others, self-esteem and can
we uplift ourselves without someone’s encouraging words?
‘When I came back from vacation, I was feeling lost
and I stopped practicing music too- I wasn’t feeling motivated but them didi
said that you are good at it- don’t leave just now. So, I start practicing back’
This activity was an eye opener in many ways. While
there were certain high points for example – one of the participants had
written 15 good qualities and mentioned 16-20: coming soon; then few of them
sharing what they really find good in them with so much enthusiasm that it was
infectious. On the another hand gender was strongly reflected when girls end up
sharing the qualities which somehow account for ‘qualities needed to be good
girls according to societal norms’
At the end, when we asked how was the session? There
was a huge roar saying ‘we loved it’. Our heart was exploding with happiness,
love and gratitude- this is what we aim with Sahas- Just being yourself!
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